


FAQ page for 'Chains'

by Veggieheist



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: FAQ, Frequently Asked Questions, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:14:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27797539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veggieheist/pseuds/Veggieheist
Summary: This is the Frequently Asked Questions page for my slave-au Reylo fic, 'Chains'. I probably wouldn't read this unless you've read 'Chains' because there are some minor spoilers.
Comments: 26
Kudos: 24





	FAQ page for 'Chains'

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Chains](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22387195) by [Veggieheist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veggieheist/pseuds/Veggieheist). 



* * *

Hello! And welcome to the FAQ page for my Slave-au Reylo fic, ‘Chains’! This is to answer some frequently asked questions so we can all be on the same page together. Some of you might recognize some of these answers. Yes, I did do some copy/pasting from previous comments. I will update this page as I receive different frequently asked questions, and when things happen in the story that basically make some of these questions moot. Feel free to ask more questions! If the answers aren't spoilery, I will add them here.

  1. “Who are you?”
  2. “How long is Chains going to be?
  3. “Chains is super long and there’s barely any sexy stuff going on between Rey and Kylo. Is Reylo really endgame??”
  4. “Will there be sex?”
  5. “WHEN will sex happen?”
  6. “How come the pace is so slow?”
  7. “Can’t you speed it up a little? I’m getting bored.”
  8. “How come Kylo hasn’t taken off his mask yet??”
  9. “How come Rey won’t tell Kylo her name??”
  10. “Why is there a bunch of stuff that’s not Reylo related? All these side plots with the Knights and whatever. Can’t you just focus on the Reylo?”
  11. “Is Rey a Palpatine???”
  12. “When is Rey going to get stronger? I don’t like seeing her so weak.”
  13. “What’s the best way to contact you outside of AO3?”



* * *

**1\. "Who are you?"**

> My name’s Taylor, I’m 28, from America, and I live and work in Japan as an English teacher.

**2\. “How long is Chains going to be?”**

> It’s hard for me to say because there’s a lot more outline to go through and as of ch 65 we’re 300k words in. But as a random ballpark number, let’s just say Chains is going to end up being 250-ish chapters by the end of it. I really don’t know though. It’s gonna be looooong.

**3\. “Chains is super long and there’s barely any sexy stuff going on between Rey and Kylo. Is Reylo really endgame??”**

> Yes! Reylo is endgame. I pinky promise.

**4\. “Will there be sex?”**

> Oh yes. And the rating will go up to E for Explicit when that happens. 

**5\. “WHEN will sex happen?”**

> I can’t say for certain, because there is a lot of story to tell and I have a habit of underestimating how long it takes to get to the next stepping stone of my outline. But I’ll just go ahead and throw out a random number and say that sex probably won’t happen for at least another 50-100 chapters. Possibly a lot more than that. If you’re just here for the sex, you’re gonna be disappointed and frustrated, so I recommend bookmarking or saving Chains for later and coming back to it in a year, or whenever it ends up getting finished.

**6\. “How come the pace is so slow?”**

> It is at a pace that is therapeutic to me. I feel safe writing it this way, I feel in control. 2020 was an absolute fucking nightmare, 2021 is a roller-coaster so far as well, and this story is the one thing keeping me sane and stable.   
>  It is also slow because I love to explore the minutia of thoughts, motivations, and psyches of my characters—what do they think, how do they feel, how do they react? What are their traumas, how do they heal from them? It takes a lot of time to explore these things, and that causes the time in story to slow down, as it is not really the plot that’s moving things along but meticulous character development. I’m trying to make it as realistic as I possibly can, and that’s going to take time. In addition to the psychology and whatnot, I also love analogies, themes, and symbolism, and adding these additional layers also takes time, in order to build things up for maximum symbolic impact. 

**7\. “Can’t you speed it up a little? I’m getting bored.”**

> No, I can’t. I am writing this story the way that makes me happy, the way I want to read it. This story is not being written for you and what you want. If I did that, I’d be fucking miserable, and I’d stop writing it. If you’re bored, there’s nothing I can do about it, but you are well within your rights to stop reading and find a story that better fits what you like to read. There’s no harm, and no hard feelings.   
>  The real harm is complaining to me about something you’re reading for free, something I spend an insane amount of my free time working on. I’m not looking for constructive criticism; this story is a way for me to process a lot of trauma I’ve experienced in my life, and hopefully help others who have experienced the same. If you don’t have anything nice to say, please just keep it to yourself.

**8\. “How come Kylo hasn’t taken off his mask yet??”**

> The masks that the Knights wear are symbolic of their comfort in being vulnerable, physically and emotionally, around other people, and their comfort in showing people who they are. This is why Cseenan doesn’t wear his helmet very often; he knows who he is and what he’s about, and doesn’t feel like he needs to hide himself. Occasionally we have seen that he puts his mask on, and in many of those scenes it was because he actually wanted to hide a bit, to protect himself.   
>  Kylo, in spite of his Macho-Man front, is terrified of being vulnerable, of being ‘read’. Visser’s comments were very much a catalyst in that regard (ch 33), and it was his cruel jabs at Kylo that inspired him to make a mask in the first place.   
>  Kylo was with his Knights for years before the masks were made, so he’s much more comfortable being maskless around them. He trusts them deeply, with his life. But notice how he never goes maskless in front of anyone else? Even Ithowim had commented that it had been so long since he’d seen him without it, he almost didn’t recognize him.  
>  Enter Rey, who confuses and confounds Kylo. Her going into his mind on accident in the beginning was a huuuuuuuge trigger. Subconsciously he is desperate to not feel so opened and vulnerable around her anymore, but things keep happening that keep triggering his need to hide: She reached out to him and soothed him when she was in a coma. She can feel his pain, even though he’s closed off his mind as much as possible. They have a strange connection that he’s never experienced before with anyone else. This is all kindof terrifying for someone who is trying so hard to close off his heart, to avoid anymore pain the likes of which he grew up feeling.   
>  So, Kylo will not remove his mask around Rey until he feels comfortable being so vulnerable around her, physically and emotionally. I know you’re tired of me saying “It’ll happen, trust me,” because when I say “soonish” it’s very relative, and it could mean anywhere between twenty to forty chapters from now. But,   
>  It’ll happen. Trust me.   
>  And the symbolic impact will be beautiful. (At least to me). 

**9\. “How come Rey won’t tell Kylo her name??”**

> Rey and Girl are two very different people in my mind. Rey is ‘Girl’ right now—a broken down slave dealing with a lot of complex-PTSD symptoms, which have caused her to have a very low image of her self-worth. She is ‘Girl’ and not ‘Rey’ because subconsciously she doesn’t even think she’s a person worth having a name right now. When she grows stronger in mind and body, when her ideas about herself and who she is are tested, she will realize that she doesn’t want to be ‘Girl’ anymore. And at that time, she will accept that she is worthy of being ‘Rey’, and she will tell Kylo her name. Could I have her tell him her name in the next chapter? Sure, but then we would lose so much elegance and meaningfulness in the symbolism. 

  
**10\. “Why is there a bunch of stuff that’s not Reylo related? All these side plots with the Knights and whatever. Can’t you just focus on the Reylo?”**

> I don’t want to write a story where I’m spoonfeeding you a Reylo plot. I want to write a Star Wars story about a bunch of people living with and healing from various traumas, and there is also Reylo in it. This story is so much more than just Kylo x Rey, and if you can’t appreciate and accept all of the other parts of it, then I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do for that. 

**11\. “Is Rey a Palpatine???”**

> No. The Rise of Skywalker is not canon as far as I’m concerned, and it didn’t happen. Palpatine is dead, and Rey has no special lineage. She’s a bastard child from Jakku, that’s it.

**12\. “When is Rey going to get stronger? I don’t like seeing her so weak.”**

> I know it’s hard to read her like this. She’s such a strong character in canon, and a lot of you look up to her and see yourself in her. I promise that Rey WILL become strong in this story, and as of ch 65, I can promise that things will start looking slightly better for her soon. But like I said above, it takes time for me to write these things out. Her growth will be in increments that might frustrate you, but when the story is binged through, the increments will seamlessly weave together into a much more easily digestible timeline. It’s only because y’all have to wait for the chapters every week that it feels so agonizingly slow. And I’m really sorry about that; it’s a downside of my writing style.   
>  But, I promise Rey will get strong, in body, mind, and spirit. She will be a kick ass woman by the end of this story. 

**13\. “What’s the best way to contact you outside of AO3?”**

You can contact me here:  
[✨Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter✨](https://www.linktr.ee/veggieheist) and Email: veggieheist.art@gmail.com 


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